SpaceX Prepares for Second Falcon 1 Rocket Launch

The private
launch firm Space
Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is reviewing the results of a Thursday
rocket engine test in preparations for the second test flight of its Falcon 1
booster.

The El
Segundo, California-based firm checked the Falcon
1 rocket's engine during a static fire test Thursday at its Omelek Island launch pad on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

"It went
off very well and no anomalies were detected," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
told SPACE.com late Friday of the engine test. "We're still digesting
the data from that."

If the results
are favorable, SpaceX may prepare the Falcon 1 rocket to fly sometime during a four-day
launch window that opens March 19. The test flight has been delayed several
times due to equipment
and range
safety issues.

The planned
space shot is a demonstration flight for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) and will be the second test launch of SpaceX's Falcon 1
booster since its unsuccessful
debut last year.

Since that initial
flight, Musk said, SpaceX engineers have made a host of improvements to the
rocket and its launch site infrastructure.

The Falcon
1 rocket is a 68-foot (21-meter) booster with a reusable first stage designed
to parachute down to an ocean splashdown for later recovery. SpaceX has
scheduled a total of three Falcon 1 launches for 2007.